Free Online Portuguese American Genealogy
New Websites Ease Research Access to Cape Cod Newspaper Archives
Jun 2, 2009
Genealogy research for Portuguese American heritage can be extra challenging. Some challenges are shaped by the practice of changing surnames once on the American side of the Atlantic. Another hurdle in research is the tradition of surnames being different for many members of the same family.
However, Portuguese American family history is getting much easier with new access to two free, on-line genealogy resources. These new resources share the stories of the first American communities where Portuguese and, more specifically, Azore Islanders first immigrated into the United States, throughout Cape Cod, Massachusetts and into Azorean descendant areas familiar today, like New Bedford, and Barnstable County.
Diario de Noticias; The Portuguese Daily News
In the last week of May, 2009, University of Massachusetts, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, announced a new, free, online historical resource available now: The Portuguese Daily News, officially known as Diario de Noticias, is online for anyone, in its entirety from 1919 to 1973. The venture is made possible by the Diario de Noticas Newpaper Digitization Project by the Ferreria-Mendes Portuguese American Archives, T. Carney Library and the Center for Portuguese Studies, UMass Dartmouth College Library, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
According to the UMass Dartmouth T. Carney Library website, Dario de Noticias was first published in New Bedford, Massachusetts as a weekly paper, and then in Fall River as a daily. It was the only Portuguese American newspaper for many years, covering every day events, births, marriages, deaths, passengers ships, news of the island homeland, and more.
Access to this newspaper online is most important because it covered such a broad physical, social, and political area of Portuguese American life. It is a historical treasure-trove, now free for all from the simple family history album to the archival primary documentation of the professional genealologist, and everyone in-between.
Provincetown Advocate Archives
Outside of the Azore Islands, the Cape Cod area of New England has one of the heaviest populations of Portuguese Azorean descendants in the world. This concentration makes the free online access to Provincetown Advocate newspaper archive a significant resource for Portuguese American genealogists.
Like the Diario de Noticias was for New Bedford and Fall River, the Provincetown Advocate was a local paper chronicling the lives, happenings, deaths of the Provincetown and greater Barnstable County area of Massachusetts.
In February 2009, the Provincetown Public Library - Advocate Live! Collections announced the free online availability for all to the archived, micro-filmed, newspaper: Provincetown Advocate. The website will post the pre-1918 years soon. As of June 2, 2009, the years available for research purposes include 1918, 1931-34, and 1936-67.
This on-going project is made possible with funds from a grant offered by the Institute of Museum & Library Services, under administration from Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
Free Portuguese American Research Online Bringing Families Together
Both the Provincetown Advocate and the Diario de Noticias projects in Massachusetts bring previously on-site only Portuguese American genealogy resources to the worldwide public. Most would have little to no opportunity to study Azorean descendant history in America without the vision and generosity of the people, institutions, and organizations making these two websites possible in Provincetown Public Library and at University of Massachusetts in North Dartmouth, respectfully. Free public access may bring long-scattered Portuguese-Azorean families finally back together in common stories, places, clan bonds and more.
One such long-scattered family, the Caton's, is beginning to come tighter together as a family legend was found to be a truth, thanks to these projects. The article image is an excerpt from an actual Provincetown Advocate article, dated 24 January 1918. Prior to discovery of the online article, family members circulated stories of a relative who may have been lost at sea around Florida, but the story had been circulating long enough they began to think it was a tall tale. A price cannot be placed on comfirming a family history truth. It is priceless and so are these websites.
See also:
RootsMagic4 Genealogy Software Review
Beginning Genealogy with the Best Resources
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